FFA Poultry Auction to be held Oct. 16th at Topsfield Fairgrounds 2016

This years FFA Auction will be conducted as usual at the Poultry barn on the Fairgrounds of the Topsfield Fair which is in full swing until Monday October 10. Auction is always on the Sunday following close of the Fair - making it October 16th this year.
The auction includes consigned birds of all species as well as poultry related equipment and poultry related objects of art.
We never know what is going to show up at this sale - flowers from the just ended Topsfield Fair are a staple but you might just as well see crates of apples, donated bags of grain, feeders, waterers, incubators and brooding equipment, straight run chicks of all breeds (chicks hatched during the fair) to plates and paintings with poultry themes.
You will always find small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs sold, and birds are not limited to chickens and turkeys - small cage birds appear frequently as do ducks, geese and pigeons of all varieties.
Chickens and other poultry excluding waterfowl and pigeons must be NPIP tested and banded in order to be sold.
Consignments should be delivered to the poultry barn beginning at 9AM as the auction will begin promptly at noon.
Dress warm as last year it was a cold blustery day and the sale was held outdoors.
Consigners will receive 75% of the sales price with 25% going to the Essex Tech FFA members who qualify to travel and compete at the national FFA competition.

This is always an interesting day whether or not you end up either buying or selling birds or consigned items. The kids try hard to present a professionally run auction - they personally show up on a Sunday AM and so spend the day acting as runners for the all volunteer auctioneer and record keeping staff. Recorders are school faculty which donate their Sunday for the student fund raiser.
So if you need next years egg producers or are culling your flock for the winter, set aside Sunday the 16th of October to visit the FFA auction and do a little selling/bargain hunting.
Kids who intend to make agriculture their full time vocation need our support.
Remember - No Farms - No Food !!!!!

I realize many of the items will be last minute and whatever shows up prior, but any vague ideas of chicks that might be available from during the fair? Breeds??

What type of crate is acceptable to consign birds? Do they have boxes there to buy?

I know the auction is over but an answer on file will aid folks looking to participate in next years sale.
I do not know the specific breeds hatched at the fair - they were sold straight run in boxes of two dozen .
Contact Ed White who is in charge of the Poultry barn at Topsfield Fairgrounds for details about varieties of chickens hatched during the fair. I suspect they vary year by year depending on Hatchery availability.

Boxes are provided by the FFA for people who bring birds to the auction in crates or cages that are not to be sold. Birds are relocated to these individual boxes by the students and each box is marked for the auctioneer with type of bird , breed, and sex .
There is no charge for these boxes.

A new restriction was imposed this year as a result of a large amount of non live items consigned.
This year there was a limit of 5 inanimate (non live) items per seller.
This results in more birds and fewer equipment/cages/incubators etc.

There was no restriction on donated items. FFA will accept donations to their sale in any amount.
A foundation announced that they would match dollar for dollar the 25% paid to consignees as a donation to the bottom line yield for FFA from this sale.

So with this matched donation the FFA effectively received 100% of all purchases at the sale.
As usual the kids did a great job assisting with the auction.
On a personal note I am pleased to report that the nine items I donated to the 2016 auction
totaled $150. as a contribution to the bottom line.

Hope we see you there in 2017.